Ten people were killed today and 62 were missing after a turbine room flooded at Russia's largest hydro-power station, forcing steel and aluminium plants in Siberia to turn to emergency power.
RusHydro, owner of the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant, said the damage would run into "billions of roubles" and take several months to fix. The company's shares were suspended in Russia and fell more than 15 per cent in London.
Panicked residents in the shadow of the Soviet-era dam fled the region when news of the accident spread at 8:15am.
Calm returned after Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said there was no danger of damage to the structure of the dam or that it would burst.
Officials said water flooded a turbine room at the dam, which is more than 3,000km east of Moscow.
An investigation was under way to determine the exact cause. A spokesman for RusHydro, quoting acting chief executive Vasily Zubakin, said 10 people had been killed, 11 were injured and another 62 were missing.
A correspondent saw about 150 emergency workers in safety helmets gathered at the dam. The damaged pump room, around 100 metres in length, is located high in a concrete wall that has dammed the waters of the Yenisei River since 1978.
Mr Zubakin, speaking on a conference call, said the plant had stopped operations and damage would run into "billions of roubles". Some production units were damaged beyond repair, and even a partial restart of the undamaged units would take several months, he said.
The Sayano-Shushenskaya plant represents 25 per cent of RusHydro's total capacity of 25.3 gigawatts of power.
Reuters